Phil Starr

We had two open air gigs this summer, I'd run though the set a couple of times before but there were a couple of hairy moments saved only by a bit of muscle memory. The rest of the band were no better and it's when the singer goes for a verse instead of a chorus you realise how you need that extra bit of sharpness.

I'm going to stick my neck out here, and make a prediction. Sometime towards the end of May we will all start gigging again properly. Everyone is going to be so up for going out we are going to have a great time in the second half of next year. OK, of course I can't possibly know that, but in Jan when I saw the information from China I told my family there would be a pandemic. Then I anticipated the inevitable second peak after the pubs opened and the schools went back and I'm prepared to predict the blindingly obvious third peak and lockdown about 2-3 weeks into January, expect another lockdown. After that it's going to look a lot more cheerful, by the end of March the most vulnerable members of society will be vaccinated and a substantial number of others will also be immune by infection and vaccination. By this time I expect the other cheaper more stable vaccines will have kicked in too so supplies will be less of an issue. Even with 30% of the population vaccinated the r-rate will reduce by..... er 30%. Combined with the rather pathetic safety measures in place and people moving outside the r-rate will fall permanently below 1 and life will gradually return to normal for most of us. Anyway I got sidetracked. Sometime around May we will get back to gigging again What plans do you have? How has your band survived the last year? Are you bringing in new skills developed from spending more time at home or like me have you just got a little rusty?

you clearly don't have a teenage daughter.

You might need these too Earplugs Ultratec - Studiospares

The simplest thing would be to buy a DI box that would take an input from the speaker output on your amp. It would be a high impedance so would not affect the impedance the amp is 'seeing' but you should run it in parallel to a speaker as valve amps don't like high impedance on their own. You can then feed from the DI box to the slave amp. Just to be clear because you don't want anything to break. Plug your speaker into one of the sockets on the back of the DR103 then another lead into the second socket on the amp and run it to the DI box then a lead from the DI out to the slave amp. Check the DI box is switched to 'speaker' before switching the amp on. Check both amps are turned down before switchng on. Set your level on the 103 then turn the slave up to match that level. using this system should mean the eq you apply to the amp is reproduced in the slave. Something like this will do the job but there are lots of choices Studiospares Passive DI Box - Studiospares Alternatively you could play in stereo and split the signal before the amps but you will need either some sort of mixer or splitter between the bass and the amps.

Intermittent faults are the worst This above is what you have to do. You also have to clear your head of preconceptions. In this situation you just can't trust anything including all the checks you have already done and the idea that this is a single fault. There may well be more than one component faulty and they may be interacting with each other, or not. I can't tell you how many times I've gone through this to find it was something I checked right at the beginning or a brand new component I'd replaced and just assumed was good. It's probably worthwhile keeping a note of the combinations you try and what happens. Just one other thought the zoom G1 has a headphone output. if you put it in the middle of your chain you could check whether the fault was before or after the G1. good luck

Hi Tom, looks like the Phantom power is a bit of a red herring, the problem of describing someone else's fault remotely. if you read the AC instruction above you can see that as it is a dynamic mic you don't need phantom power. For a working SM58 it doesn't matter if it is on or off but if anything goes wrong whilst the mic is connected the phantom power might just blow the mic. safer to leave it off. If you have a working mi plug it in and get it going, then unplug the lead at the mic end and plug the new mic in it's place. If it still doesn't work then you have eliminated any lead which might have come with the new mic. remember we don't know what leads you are using. If this doesn't work and the mic doesn't work in another system then it's the mic. There are two possibilities in the mic, sometimes a lead has broken inside, there will be two running from the socket at the bottom of the mic up to the capsule the working part of the mic or the capsule itself needs replacing loads listed on eBay but make sure you get a genuine one. If you can't solder then you'll have to get someone else to have a look. Just a thought this is not a switched version of the SM58, if so suspect the switch too. In fact suspect it first

As above don't turn on the phantom power but if you have to to provide power for another mic then check your mic lead is wired correctly. If it is the mic should be protected from the phantom power but any mistakes in wiring your leads could cause the voltage to be applied across the mic coil. Also any sort of short even a temporary one can damage your mic so it is best to plug in leads before switching on the power and keep the volume turned down.

I was really impressed with the video editing. Looking forward to hearing what the ports do to the sound.

Funny you should ask. I've just bought an INuke DSP amp from @Kevsy71 to investigate just that. The DSP gives you a wide range of options about crossover frequency roll off, delay and so on as well as compression/limiting to protect the drivers. If it is successful it might be a good way to go active by building the amp into the cab for just over £220

That makes JackTrip look more interesting, at least you know the money is being put back into music. One of my band members suggested SonoBus SonoBus User Guide

This looks really interesting, for those who haven't clicked on the link: It's going to be a paid for service run by a not-for-profit organisation and based on work by Stanford University in the States. The prices aren't clear yet. Basically they are cutting the latency with an external box which cuts the latency to 1mS and replaces your sound card. Then there will be cloudhosting managing the connections. There are a few other tweeks like adding in an unbalanced connector for your mic and wiring everything direct. The boxes aren't available yet but will be managed by a Raspberry Pi and another board. you can buy a kit of parts from Amazon but they only have 16 sets. Looks like you can buy the kit for £150-200 or use their information to build your own. You'll also have to pay for the stuff they are doing in the cloud. There are so many details on their site I may have missed something.

Question about interfaces, I notice that Behringer (and presumably everyone else) do a 2 way interface which is £37 and one which is £59. 16bit 24kHz and 24bit 192kHz. obviously the quality is going to be better with the faster sampling rate but latency? Secondly a lot of small mixers have USB outputs including one I have here. Will they work as well or again is latency going to be more of a problem?

I'm very analogue I'm afraid

Just looked at JamKazam it's got to be worth a try, and there's a free version, with restrictions but at least a way of trying it. Not yet 9.00 and I've learned something new

In terms of rehearsing together I don't think any of the platforms are going to work because of the time delay (latency). Even a few thousandths of a second sounds weird but coincidentally we were experimenting on Zoom two nights ago. Trying a few songs and sharing screens, the time delay on Dakota was 2 beats or about 1 sec. I'm sure faster connections and better hardware could reduce that but there's no way you are ever going to be able to lock in with other band members. I think the only thing you can really hope for is recording your parts separately and sending the files across to play along with. I'm hoping there is something I've missed and that there are ideas of things that can make practice more interesting and stimulating and I'll follow the thread but I'm not hoping for much

Not too worried about the resale but wondering about how much work is needed. It's been stored for years and they don't even have an amp so it means going up with an amp and two 9V batteries I now know. Plus my other half will kill me You are tempting me though, sounds good too on the You tube review I found and yes Japanese Matsumoku 1985.

Thanks @Happy Jack, I'm not sure about this one it's been knocked about and one of the controls is broken and it's a little way away. I'm hoping someone will see this and say what it's worth. Nowadays I only remember the distant past

@Happy Jack did you ever get to play this bass? I've just seen one going cheap which needs some tlc. Basically I want to ask all the questions you asked all those years ago basically is it worth some time and money. What would be a good price now?

Good luck with the recovery, there will come a time when a nice relaxing project will be just the thing . You might find it fun to do some internet research whilst you are laid up. I've designed stuff for someone in Australia before and sourcing drive units was an issue. A lot of the stuff available here wasn't available over there at the time and the exchange rate was appalling. That's bound to have changed in the last ten years but we did find an Australian manufacturer and some lovely drivers.

I quite like carpet felt but it is heavy. You'll find most pillows and Duvets are packed with polyester wadding which is also sold for speakers. Don't let it cover the ports.

Oh forgot to say the only 4cm tube I have to hand is the liner of a toilet roll, I'm sure you have them at home ? if not you might find a round shampoo bottle the right size. Cardboard is quite a good material for a port if it is thick enough. you can stiffen it up with papier mache, (soak newspaper in watered down glue and wrap it round the outside).

OK I'd go for two tubes 6.5cm long which will give you a little bass lift at 120 Hz. Not real bass but it will make things sound just a touch punchier/warmer. That speaker actually models just a little better in your cab than mine

I do like a happy ending, and yes good video too. If you measure up the inside of the cab and the diameter of those holes I'm happy to do the calculations for you, I may even have some port tubing the right size I can post. Hope you feel better soon.

Now corrected I meant to refer the excursion, I got called away halfway through posting, sorry